AUCD-NCBDDD RTOI Update: Language and Behavioral Outcomes of Children with Congenital Hearing Loss Highlights
Dr. Betty Vohr (Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island) and her project team has been prospectively studying the language and behavior outcomes of children with hearing loss from birth to six years of age. The 18-24 month outcomes were presented in a poster entitled "The Effects of Maternal Stress and Child Language Ability on Behavioral Outcomes of Children with Congenital Hearing Loss" at the 2011 EHDI Conference and won the "Overall Outstanding Poster Award."
Their collaborative relationship with The Paul V. Sherlock Center and Part C Early Intervention has been expanded. MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MCDI) supplies were purchased and trainings conducted with all RI Early Intervention sites so that providers would become proficient in administering the MCDI assessment to monitor the language progress of Rhode Island children with hearing loss in Part C programs. Data will be entered into the state Kidsnet database. This is a big step in Rhode Island and the first time there will be consistent administration of a standardized language assessment at all of the Early Intervention sites.
The team presented three prize winning posters, including one by our Paul V. Sherlock Center Fellow, at the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program's Annual Seminar. The team also presented a MCDI training workshop at the conference.
This article was featured in the AUCD-NCBDDD Cooperative Agreement Newsletter.